Turkiye and Libya’s Haftar are boosting military ties. Is Egypt worried?

Turkiye is expanding its subject practice with eastbound Libyan forces, raising questions astir Egypt’s strategical reddish lines and determination security.

After years of being the superior backer of the internationally recognised authorities successful Tripoli, Turkiye is present rapidly expanding its subject footprint to a rival authorization successful eastbound Libya.

This strategical displacement has seen Ankara determination from dialog with the eastern-based General Command of renegade subject commandant Khalifa Haftar to tangible method and subject practice with his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA).

The LNA, agelong believed to person been supported by Egypt and different determination powers, has since the commencement of the Libyan civilian warfare successful 2014 been successful struggle with forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Libyan government.

This has led immoderate to question whether Turkiye’s outreach to the eastbound Libyan authorities could provoke anxiousness successful neighbouring Egypt, Haftar’s longtime backer.

A Turkish subject beingness adjacent to Libya’s eastbound border, which Egypt has historically viewed arsenic its geopolitical backyard, would habitually trigger alarm bells successful Cairo.

Exclusive accusation obtained by Al Jazeera, however, indicates that the existent dynamic is present driven by a caller epoch of unprecedented coordination betwixt erstwhile determination rivals wherever Libya was a cardinal constituent of contention.

According to backstage sources, the rapprochement betwixt Ankara and the General Command includes understandings connected however to make subject facilities and precocious surveillance systems. The agreements besides diagnostic grooming programmes wrong Turkiye for eastbound Libyan officers, with specialised Turkish defence companies participating successful these projects.

A information root told Al Jazeera that Saddam Haftar, the lawman commandant of the eastbound forces, is spearheading this done regular meetings with Turkiye’s defence curate and main of staff.

While authoritative statements vaguely notation to enhancing associated subject practice and exchanging expertise, without explicitly mentioning the constitution of subject bases oregon the deployment of drones, the world reflects a deeper method alignment betwixt the 2 parties.

Why Cairo is not sounding the alarm

Despite the expanding Turkish beingness successful Egypt’s accepted sphere of influence, Cairo is unexpectedly not expressing interest with the situation.

An Egyptian root acquainted with the bilateral relations told Al Jazeera that Ankara does not instrumentality a azygous measurement successful Libya without anterior coordination with Egypt, efficaciously neutralising immoderate imaginable friction connected this issue.

Brigadier General Samir Ragheb, manager of the Arab Foundation for Development Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that Egypt and Turkiye person reached their highest level of coordination crossed aggregate fields, including military.

In Sudan’s civilian war, wherever Egypt and Turkiye backmost the service against the renegade Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the 2 countries are some aligned.

Ragheb argues that Turkiye’s practice with Haftar’s campy mightiness really service Cairo’s broader strategical goals to bounds the LNA’s enactment for the RSF.

Furthermore, Ragheb explains that Ankara’s engagement successful the eastbound fills a vacuum that mightiness different beryllium exploited by different determination actors who endanger Cairo’s policies for the strategically important Horn of Africa region.

He besides noted that imaginable Turkish bases successful confederate Libya – acold from the Egyptian borderline – bash not endanger Cairo and could adjacent facilitate associated coordination to negociate information threats successful the volatile Sahel and Sahara regions.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, right, welcomes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, earlier a quadrilateral gathering astatine Tahrir Palace successful Cairo, Egypt, June 21, 2026 [Mohamed Hossam/EPA]

This eastbound pivot is simply a determination designed to unafraid Turkiye’s semipermanent geopolitical and economical interests, preserving its power successful Libya careless of aboriginal governmental settlements betwixt the authorities and eastbound authorities.

Sources suggest that a superior operator down Turkiye’s outreach is its tendency to unafraid eastbound Libyan authorities’ acceptance of the 2019 maritime borderline statement signed with the erstwhile Government of National Accord. Notably, Egypt has refrained from objecting to a maritime demarcation based connected a Benghazi-Turkiye line, indicating a tacit knowing connected the issue.

However, determination are inactive boundaries. Faisal Bualraiga, a Libyan nationalist information expert, noted that portion the existent practice allows Haftar to diversify his alliances beyond Russia and the United Arab Emirates, it lacks a declared antiaircraft statement and has not yet evolved into a afloat strategical pact. He cautioned that immoderate imperishable Turkish subject beingness adjacent the Egyptian oregon Algerian borders would apt transverse a reddish line, inevitably expanding determination sensitivities.

Ultimately, experts suggest the Libyan record is transitioning from an epoch of rigid polarisation to 1 of flexible partnerships, wherever Turkiye and Egypt are choosing pragmatism implicit proxy conflicts.